I Have Too Many Insights - Advice Needed

[Sincerity]

Lately I've upped my contemplation game (reached amazing results!) and a new challenge has arisen for me. I have sooo many great and useful insights which I'm really fond of, but it becomes way too much to interconnect everything or even remember a lot them. I realized that I simply can't hold very much in my mind at once.

Moreover, my commonplace book in OneNote and vault of insights in Obsidian are becoming too much for me as well - I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of insights, deep questions, concepts, etc.. Thus, I forget about most of these notes, many of them incredibly valuable and insightful, which is a shame to me.

The gist is that I want to be a great intellectual in my life, I want to have a very broad perspective on life, I want to understand reality deeply, all that stuff. I feel discontented with the fact that I forget about so many nuggets of wisdom which could certainly be of use in my journey.

So I ask You for your advice. Is it a matter of better organization and workflow with my commonplace book? Do You think one can develop their ability to hold more things in their mind at once? Or maybe I should let it go and stop trying to save most of my insights?

Ultimately I will solve this myself somehow but hey, some input from outside is always welcome. Please grant me your wisdom!

[LastThursday]

4 minutes ago, Sincerity said:

So I ask You for your advice. Is it a matter of better organization and workflow with my commonplace book? Do You think one can develop their ability to hold more things in their mind at once? Or maybe I should let it go and stop trying to save most of my insights?

I do know what you mean. I often have profound insights just on the cusp of sleep, and they're nearly impossible to capture. They are more like a sensation more than anything else. I wouldn't even know how to record them.

Every insight leaves a positive residue even if you don't fully recall it again. That means that new connections will be made more easily in future. Sometimes new insights will make you recall older ones, and that re-inforces them.

I don't think you should go hell for leather trying to capture all insights (if it's too much). It kind of goes against the nature of insights, because insights work on many levels some more subconscious than others. Just let them permeate your being.

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, LastThursday said:

I do know what you mean. I often have profound insights just on the cusp of sleep, and they're nearly impossible to capture. They are more like a sensation more than anything else. I wouldn't even know how to record them.

I got my idea for using ChatGPT to type my MBTI as I was about to wake up one morning  

[Sincerity]

1 hour ago, LastThursday said:

I often have profound insights just on the cusp of sleep, and they're nearly impossible to capture. They are more like a sensation more than anything else. I wouldn't even know how to record them.

Nice! It's similar for me. Sometimes I even have profound insights and understanding in my dreams but I forget it when I wake up

1 hour ago, LastThursday said:

Every insight leaves a positive residue even if you don't fully recall it again. That means that new connections will be made more easily in future. Sometimes new insights will make you recall older ones, and that re-inforces them.

That's a great point.

1 hour ago, LastThursday said:

I don't think you should go hell for leather trying to capture all insights (if it's too much). It kind of goes against the nature of insights, because insights work on many levels some more subconscious than others. Just let them permeate your being.

Thanks for the perspective!

[John Paul]

Simplify your insights into as few sentences as possible. Don’t stop there- boil them down to core values or “principles” and real life goals that you can work toward (without attachment of course).

My whole commonplace book is now this: 

Be simple. Be grateful. 

Talk to multiple lenders. (Get a loan)

See everything. (With a broker)

Serve inspection papers and a total.

*Maximize profit* (Sell)

Buy a house where you can have an amazing family life.

Simplicity, beauty, and consistency.

[Sincerity]

2 hours ago, John Paul said:

Simplify your insights into as few sentences as possible. Don’t stop there- boil them down to core values or “principles” and real life goals that you can work toward (without attachment of course).

My whole commonplace book is now this: 

Be simple. Be grateful. 

Talk to multiple lenders. (Get a loan)

See everything. (With a broker)

Serve inspection papers and a total.

*Maximize profit* (Sell)

Buy a house where you can have an amazing family life.

Simplicity, beauty, and consistency.

Nice, that's good advice. I'm already mostly doing that.

Insights like "mind colors everything", "thoughts are immersive", "responsibility is wisdom", "wish the Truth to everyone". Indeed, in simplicity there is power and beauty.

Still, there are so many that it's difficult to manage 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Sincerity

[John Paul]

31 minutes ago, Sincerity said:

Nice, that's good advice. I'm already mostly doing that.

Insights like "mind colors everything", "thoughts are immersive", "responsibility is wisdom", "wish the Truth to everyone". Indeed, in simplicity there is power and beauty.

Still, there are so many that it's difficult to manage 

What is the highest insight of all? If not the highest then top 3-4?Find them, then stack your other insights up against them one at a time to see if they are even relevant in the big picture of your life. You will start to deconstruct your list of insights. 

[LastThursday]

12 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

I got my idea for using ChatGPT to type my MBTI as I was about to wake up one morning  

Great! Here's a famous example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Kekulé#Kekulé's_dream

Sometimes you don't know what to do with an insight, and so you don't record or remember it well.

I had an insight recently whilst watching a video about the double slit experiment (for the umpteenth time).  Something clicked that time: the configuration of matter affects the behaviour and nature of space (around it). So in this instance the diffraction pattern is not caused by the double slits per se, but by the space being warped (by the apparatus) and affecting the probabilities of the light waves.  But what do I do with that insight?

[Leo Gura]

Insight is infinite, so you will never be able to catch them all.

As great as insights are, be careful not to fall into the trap of hoarding insights like gold, otherwise it becomes just another kind of materialism.

Don't try to cling to insights. Let them come, appreciate them, write down the best ones, and then let it go.

Having insight is like tasting a candy. It only lasts a few minutes and then it's gone. But you can still appreciate that candy for those few minutes. But learn to let it go. It's not supposed to be a permanent high.

This is a lesson in impermanence.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Arthogaan]

Some of them you will forget but some of them will reappear every once in a while and you will know that those are the crucial ones for your journey.

For those reocurring Iike to create a certain symbol, that I can quickly summon to my mind and feel it.

[John Paul]

My commonplace note today:

Awareness. Gratitude. Fairness. 

Fair Compassion. Fair Wrath.

Blessed are the merciful-

 

Earn consistently, spend wisely.

 

[Sincerity]

9 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Insight is infinite, so you will never be able to catch them all.

As great as insights are, be careful not to fall into the trap of hoarding insights like gold, otherwise it becomes just another kind of materialism.

Don't try to cling to insights. Let them come, appreciate them, write down the best ones, and then let it go.

Having insight is like tasting a candy. It only lasts a few minutes and then it's gone. But you can still appreciate that candy for those few minutes. But learn to let it go. It's not supposed to be a permanent high.

This is a lesson in impermanence.

I see. The analogy to materialism is eye-opening. From what I notice, I cling to things too much in general.

Thank You, I will work on integrating this advice.

8 hours ago, Arthogaan said:

Some of them you will forget but some of them will reappear every once in a while and you will know that those are the crucial ones for your journey.

For those reocurring Iike to create a certain symbol, that I can quickly summon to my mind and feel it.

Oh, that's a good pointer! Thanks! Also, interesting idea with the symbol  Might try that

9 hours ago, LastThursday said:

But what do I do with that insight?

Hahahahah 

There is something really funny about uselessness/impracticality. I think it hides a truth in it. Maybe reality is actually completely useless, trivial and meaningless... and that's what makes it beautiful? 

18 hours ago, John Paul said:

What is the highest insight of all? If not the highest then top 3-4? Find them, then stack your other insights up against them one at a time to see if they are even relevant in the big picture of your life. You will start to deconstruct your list of insights. 

Hmm, could be promising

[LastThursday]

12 hours ago, Sincerity said:

There is something really funny about uselessness/impracticality. I think it hides a truth in it. Maybe reality is actually completely useless, trivial and meaningless... and that's what makes it beautiful?

Insights meets aesthetics, what an interesting insight! Insights do have a beauty or aesthetic quality to them. Maybe that's how we know they're insights?

[EternalForest]

A lot of great advice here so far, but I'll chime in and say that you should write each of them down and then try to explain them in the simplest way possible. Einstein said that you don't really understand something if you can't explain it to a five-year-old, so I would go in with that mindset. How could I explain the stuff in the simpest way that doesn't water it down? Also see if you can combine any of your insights into one. You may have some repeats. Best of luck.

[Sincerity]

13 hours ago, LastThursday said:

Insights meets aesthetics, what an interesting insight! Insights do have a beauty or aesthetic quality to them. Maybe that's how we know they're insights?

Maybe so 

I did have a lot of insights into what is beauty recently. Long story short, I'd say that beauty is literally God. To appreciate is to see the beauty = see God in something. Anything can be seen as beautiful/God because everything is that. Reality is beautiful and so is any "one thing" in reality.

And since an insight is a "penetrating mental vision or discernment" or "the sudden act of grasping the inner nature or truth of a situation" (definitions from Leo's blog), an insight is also a recognition of some beauty in reality. To grasp the inner nature or truth is to start seeing more clearly. And clearer seeing = higher recognition of God/beauty/truth, greater consciousness/genuine understanding. 

So yeah, I think the quality of an insight can be recognized by its perceived beauty. But obviously there's also room for self-deception there so one has gotta be careful.

12 hours ago, EternalForest said:

A lot of great advice here so far, but I'll chime in and say that you should write each of them down and then try to explain them in the simplest way possible. Einstein said that you don't really understand something if you can't explain it to a five-year-old, so I would go in with that mindset. How could I explain the stuff in the simpest way that doesn't water it down? Also see if you can combine any of your insights into one. You may have some repeats. Best of luck.

Superb advice man. Thanks!

I'm so happy with all of your guys' perspectives and tips.

Edited January 18, 2023 by Sincerity

[hyruga]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwE4NhPv8aQ&feature=youtu.be

Leo gura video

[Loving Radiance]

When I tripped in the past, I used to have thousands of insights but didn't write them down. Then, when I read my trip questions immediately afterward, it became evident that it all comes from the same place.

Find that place, and notice how you can create any insight & answer for life when being centered in and meditating on that place.

[Bobby_2021]

Dont be too eager to record all your insights. To be fair, most of them are trash, if you are really honest.

Most of my insights I had from 5 years ago seems childish compared to what I have now.

Insights are meant to be generated and lost. I use google keep, to store my insights. I periodically review them and put them to the trash once I have integrated them, in my free time. Being too eager to record them will also hamper your ability to generate them in future.

Instead integrate and savour the insight while you have them. It serves as a foundation for better and grander ones in the future. 

Also, do you mind sharing them in future? 

@Sincerity

Edited March 1, 2023 by Bobby_2021

[Carl-Richard]

3 minutes ago, Bobby_2021 said:

Insights are meant to be generated and lost. I use google keep to store my insights. I periodically review them and put them to the trash once I have integrated them, in my free time. Being too eager to record them will also hamper your ability to generate them in future.

How so?

[Bobby_2021]

@Carl-Richard "how so" what?